Day 367 - 11:31 AM - Kajen, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia
Mark and Amihan stared in front of them to see the result of their actions.
Most witnesses were in awe and disbelief, while relief began to rise within them as they saw the threat getting removed this easily.
However, it was not the sa for the perpetrators of the scene.
"Master... This is bad..."
Amihan voiced out with her complexion slightly paler than normal. But as she turned her head to look at her master, her face beca even more pale.
"Yeah... It's bad, really bad."
Mark agreed with Amihan as he raised his right hand, which held Ignis. Through his sleeves and arm armor, blood could be seen dripping.
"Master, your right eye and ear too..."
Amihan inford Mark since it seed that he failed to realize.
***
After trying to confirm Mark's intentions, Luna retreated behind him and watched. It was not only her. Everyone who knew Mark around her felt both anticipation and fear.
Fear ca from the fact that if Mark failed, it would be a grave fight for everyone here. After all, none of them saw Mark take direct action against enemies all this ti. But for the sa reason, anticipation also rose within their hearts. The strength and abilities of the mbers of Evernight were far beyond normal. And as the leader of Evernight, Mark should not be weaker than any of the mbers.
Now, they saw Mark take action with Amihan.
The [Sylph's] magic was exceptionally strong. It was clear by the fact that the birds all died and turned into minced at with just a wave of her hands.
But what Amihan and Mark did was beyond Amihan's solo performance.
Those several hundred [Infected], or maybe even more than a thousand, just vanished without a trace. No flesh, no blood, nothing. It was as if they never existed in the first place.
That was what everyone witnessed and perceived.
No. Not everyone...
Luna held her chest. She could feel her entire being trembling inside. It was neither fear nor excitent.
When Amihan released her magical energy both tis, Luna felt it. She also felt it when the silhouette of the eight-headed serpent appeared from Mark's sword.
It was neither the magical energy of the two that Luna felt. She was unsure what it was. While Luna was not soone who was used to magic or any energy involving it, she was not new to it. But she was sure it was not magical energy that was making her tremble at the mont.
Grasping her chest tighter, Luna felt sothing within her. She could not tell what it was. She could only stare blankly in front of her, staring at the visage of Amihan and Mark's backs.
"Gege!"
A beautiful voice entered Luna's ear as she noticed the blurry silhouette of a woman running toward Mark with worry.
"...na! Luna! Are you okay?!"
Luna noticed that soone was calling for her. She looked to her left and saw the worried face of her suitor. Trying to respond to the call, she tried to speak.
However...
***
"Luna!"
Edge yelled out after catching Luna, who suddenly fell unconscious.
Everyone, including Mark, turned in their direction and saw what was happening.
Luna, the leader of this journey, collapsed unconscious. It was a bad thing to happen in this situation. While no one might voice it out loud, so people would definitely have doubts about following her now.
After all, with Mark's miraculous display, why not follow him instead.
Mark looked at Luna and Edge, then turned to Limabela.
"Limabela, can you take the lead and deal with the remaining ones?"
Limabela was surprised at first, but after seeing i wiping the blood from Mark's eye and ear, she swallowed the questions she had.
It was not just Limabela. Everyone realized that what Mark did might not be sothing without consequences. The blood that stained his face and dripped from his arm was the evidence.
However, Mark putting Limabela in charge instead of General Wijaya also ant that the General had less authority in this group compared to the leaders of the Moon Chasers. This was what Mark clearly implied when he spoke those words.
"Everyone! Get ready! There are still enemies left!"
Limabela yelled, rallying the combatants to deal with the remaining [Infected].
While Mark and Amihan dealt with most of the enemies, it was not all of the horde. The ones still too close to the giant turtle were not caught in their attack and were now rushing towards the group. At least, the number was not even a quarter of the initial horde. They should be able to handle it without casualties unless they were careless.
After finishing the job, Mark and Amihan were dragged away by i. They rejoined the rest of the group while Mark sat down as i took care of his injuries. Said injuries had already healed, however. The only thing left was the blood that stained Mark's body.
As he sat down, Mark looked at where Luna was. She was being carried by Edge as they cleared a place for her to lie down. Mark's eyes focused behind Edge. It was lfiss following them. However, there was not a single tint of worry on her face. Instead, she was relieved for so unknown reason.
Mark then felt a focused stare from a different direction. As he turned his head, the stare had already vanished. Unfortunately for the culprit, Mark was an [Empath]. He could clearly tell who it was. The fortunate thing was that Mark had no ti to care for him right now.
It was because...
"Gege... Why are you doing dangerous things like that?"
Mark was currently being admonished by his wife after experinting with sothing with his body.
"Sorry."
Mark apologized. However, the reply he received was the cute expression of i, who was angrily pouting as she wiped the blood on his arm.
"I didn't know you can actually bleed."
Soone comnted. It was obvious who it was by her tone.
"Why can't I?"
Mark replied to Spera, who approached with Aephelia in tow.
"I never really saw you bleed until now."
Spera said, staring at Mark.
There was nothing wrong in Spera's words. When she joined the group, Mark was already a [Mutator]. Since his ability was to control his blood and turn it into tal, bleeding was the least of his concerns.
Unless Mark's head was cut off, or there were so special circumstances, Mark would not bleed despite his injuries. Not to ntion that his injuries would heal in no ti.
This situation was one of those special circumstances, for sure.
"Master."
Aephelia politely greeted Mark with a bow usually used towards royalty. It caused so nearby witnesses to feel odd while looking at them.
Not caring about the stares they were getting, Aephelia turned her head toward the mountain-like turtle in the distance.
"Do you want to take control of that creature?"
Aephelia did not really need to ask. After all, there was only one reason she would be called here in this situation. Nonetheless, as a maid, she needed to confirm the orders she needed to receive.
"How many slots will that take? And how many free slots do you have currently?"
Mark asked Aephelia.
"I do not know how many slots it will take until I try to take control of it," Aephelia replied. "However, I imdiately turned all the [Infected] I control at the base dormant after Spera arrived. I should be able to take control of it in my current state as long as there are no unusual disturbances."
"Alright. Go and try to control it," Mark gave his order and turned to Spera. "Spera, assist Aephelia. The two of you should jump on that turtle's head using a portal. Retreat imdiately if there's danger, understand?"
"Understood."
"If you say so."
Aephelia and Spera replied, respectively.
And using Spera's portal, the two imdiately comnced their mission.
The clash between the combatants and the [Infected] began below. Far beyond the battle, the mountain-like turtle continued to advance at its own pace while a portal opened above its head.
Seeing the silhouette of Spera and Aephelia standing on the turtle's head gave them a more accurate scale of how large that turtle was.
It looked as if Aephelia and Spera were standing on the roof of a grand cathedral. And the turtle's snake-like neck was not included in that size comparison.
But compared to the head and the neck, the mountain-like shell behind was far larger.
THUMP!
The last step was heard, and the mountain-like turtle froze in its steps. It seed Aephelia had already begun working.
Mark and the rest only needed to wait.
"Are you okay?"
Mark asked Amihan, who now looked better than after they used that experintal magic.
"I'm okay now," Amihan nodded while sitting on Mark's left shoulder. "But I don't want to repeat that again. My energy just gushed out without control. I know my control is still bad, but this is much worse. It's as if I lost ownership of my magic, and it just gushed out and escaped."
"Hmmm..." Mark was rather confused. "I never felt that way when using the butterfly, so that's definitely not the cause..."
"But I did feel your energy wildly flowing through my body," Mark continued. "The injuries I got should be from trying to contain your overflowing energy. Still, I lost control when the energy was released. My right upper body went numb, and I lost control of my blood. It also ripped my arm apart while channeling it to Ignis."
Mark then turned to i, who was now glaring at him. The more Mark spoke about what happened to his body due to his experint, the more she got upset.
However, i could not tell him to stop doing these kinds of stuff. She understood why he was doing these things, even if it ended up hurting himself.
At the end of it all, it was to protect everyone.
Mark caressed i's hair to calm her down. It was while talking to Ignis through his mind.
"What about you, Ignis? Sothing wrong?"
Mark asked.
"I'm a Demon Sword, so I didn't feel any physical problems," Ignis replied. "In fact, there's barely any rejection from the magical energy. I can't say the [Sylph's] energy is fully compatible with , but there's barely any difficulty when transforming the energy and releasing it to attack."
Mark was quite surprised. If Ignis did not have much problem with it, it ant that what went wrong only involved him and Amihan.
"Wait..." Mark noticed sothing from Ignis' words. "Rejection... Compatibility..."
Amihan's energy entered Mark's body as if it was getting pulled out of her. She lost control of it, she said.
"I see now..." Mark murmured. "Huh?"
"Gege..." Mark was too deep in thought that he did not realize i's face was just an inch away from his. "You're thinking of sothing dangerous again, aren't you?"
In this position, Mark's intrusive thoughts won as he took a peck of i's lips, surprising her enough to make her freeze and forget her anger as she turned red as ripe as a tomato.
"Don't worry. I'll be careful next ti."
Mark smiled as he ruffled i's head and pulled her closer to his embrace.
Unfortunately, Spera was not around to tell them to get a room, as everyone else just looked away in silence and gave the two so space.
THUMP! THUMP! THOOOM!
All of a sudden, two steps were heard from the mountain-like turtle. It then lowered its body, causing the ground to shake and burnt ashes to scatter into the surroundings.
As everyone looked in surprise and fear, Mark saw Spera waving at them, confirming Aephelia's success in taking control of the turtle.
At the sa ti that the turtle fell under Aephelia's control, the horde below suddenly beca disturbed. It was as if they lost focus after losing their leader. It beca easier for the combatants to defeat the remaining [Infected].
And when everyone thought that the only threat left was the mountainous turtle, they learned that it was not a threat anymore. They beca even more flabbergasted after hearing the reason.
The giant turtle was now under the control of the unfamiliar maid that appeared just now, and it would now beco their transport to Bali.
It was an absurd thing to hear. So even thought they were dreaming or going crazy. However, whatever they had in mind, it did not change the fact that the giant turtle was now lying down on the ground, waiting for everyone to ride it.
Reviews
All reviews (0)